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#BostonStrong: The Most Inspirational Women Who Have Run the Boston Marathon

When the Boston Marathon was founded in 1897, it had just 15 entrants—none of whom were female. By 2014, the race boasted 31,805 finishers—including the highest percentage of women racers—45 percent—ever. More fast, fearless females toe the start line each year, having earned a qualifying time to run the race or by teaming up with a charity partner and raising money to earn an entry. Here, a look back at some of the best.
With one million spectators lining the 26.2-mile course, it’s no surprise the Boston Marathon is considered a runner’s ultimate victory lap. And while every single person who crosses that finish line (or hey, even has the goal of making it to the start) is a badass to us, here are 19 female runners who epitomize #BostonStrong and have changed the running game.

Kathrine Switzer

Switzer is widely known as the first official woman to run the Boston Marathon. In 1967, females were still prohibited from running the race, but Switzer had registered for the elusive marathon under the gender-neutral name “K. V. Switzer” and received a race bib. Although a race official famously tried to rip off her numbers and eject her from the race, Switzer powered on, becoming the first woman to run and finish the race with an official bib. Switzer and fellow female runners tried to convince the Boston Athletic Association to allow women to participate in the marathon, but it wasn’t until 1972 that the rules were officially changed, welcoming women to run the race. “"It is fair to say that her courage to run the Boston Marathon paved the way for me to live the life that I do. Thanks to her bravery, I am living my dreams and running professionally,” elite runner Kara Goucher told ESPN of Switzer.

Photo credit: Boston Globe / Getty

Bobbi Gibb

Although Kathrine Switzer is famously known for being the first official woman to run Boston, Gibb was the first woman to run the entire 26.2-mile course. She first ran the race (without a bib) in 1966, and was later recognized by the Boston Athletic Association as the pre-sanctioned era women’s winner for 1966, 1967 and 1968.

Photo credit: Boston Globe / Getty

Joan Benoit Samuelson

Joan is one of the most storied female distance runners in history, rightly earning the title of “a champion for women in distance running.” She won the Boston Marathon (wearing a Red Sox hat!) in 1979 and again in 1983 (running in 2:22:43, setting both a women’s world record and Boston Marathon course record). Samuelson was the first-ever women’s Olympic marathon champion, and has continued making history in her running career. Last year, at age 56, Samuelson ran the Boston Marathon in 2:52:11.

Photo credit: Damian Strohmeyer / Getty

Shalane Flanagan

Flanagan is one of the top American distance runners right now, widely recognizable for her stark-white compression socks. This year, she wants to add another impressive feat to her long list of records: Boston Marathon champion. Originally from Marblehead, MA, Flanagan calls the Boston Marathon her hometown race—fitting, considering she holds the US Boston course record (2:22:02, which she ran last year). She finished seventh during the 2014 race (and was the first American female finisher), fourth in 2013, and is looking for a podium finish in 2015. “If you’re going to be running championship-style races, your ability to close is really important. It’s the difference between a podium finish or a win for me,” she told Runner’s World.

Photo credit: Jim Rogash / Getty

Desiree Linden

Linden is no stranger to the Boston Marathon: She almost won it in 2011, finishing just two seconds behind Kenya’s Caroline Kilel. Linden’s performance was a four-minute personal best and an American course record (2:22:38, until it was broken last year by Flanagan). Linden will be racing this year, and says she's ready to take the top spot. “If you can win in Boston, that pretty much makes you a legend as an American, so it’d be nice to have that one on my résumé,” Linden told Running Competitor. “It really is the marathon.”

Photo credit: Thomas B. Shea / Getty

Kara Goucher

Beloved by the running community, Goucher made her marathon debut at the New York City Marathon in 2008—and came in third. (Not too shabby, right?!) The following year, she ran her first Boston Marathon, and again took third place. And she went on to run the historic marathon in 2011 and 2013, and now, in 2015.

Photo credit: Stu Forster / Getty

Sarah Reinertsen

By the time Reinertsen ran her first Boston Marathon in 2004, the former Paralympic track star was already an accomplished athlete with numerous world record titles. And that same year she competed at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, becoming the first woman to finish an Ironman on a prosthetic leg.

Backstory: She was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a bone-growth disorder, and had her leg amputated above the knee when she was 7—but she never let it stop her from accomplishing her goals. She went on to compete on The Amazing Race and is a now spokesperson for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. “I don't know if I would have become an Ironman. I don't know if I'd have become a marathoner. So maybe in some way, that was part of the gift that gave me this body,” Reinertsen told ESPN.

Photo credit: Michael Buckner / Getty

Buzunesh Deba

“Buzu” is a powerhouse athlete, an Ethiopian distance runner who lives and trains in the Bronx, NY. She came in second place at last year’s Boston Marathon, running a personal best (2:19:59). Deba has won numerous marathons, and consistently places in the top 10—and will be competing this year.

Photo Credit: Jim Rogash / Getty

Tatyana McFadden

The two-time Boston Marathon winner of the women’s push rim wheelchair division was born with spina bifida, which paralyzed her from the waist down. After being abandoned by her birth mother and left in an orphanage that couldn’t afford a wheelchair for her, McFadden spent the few years of her life walking on her hands. Eventually, McFadden was adopted by a single mother visiting Russia; she also happened to be the commissioner of disabilities for the US Department of Health. McFadden soon got involved in sports to strengthen her muscles, and competed in numerous Paralympics. In 2013, she won the Boston, Chicago, London and New York City marathons, making her the first person (able-bodied or otherwise) to win four major marathons in one year. McFadden is a champion for people with disabilities and an inspiration to everyone—and is gearing up for a potential third consecutive win at Boston on Monday.

Photo credit: Alex Trautwig / Getty

Lisa Rainsberger

Rainsberger spent 12 years competing as a professional distance runner, and is the last American woman to have won the Boston Marathon. She claimed victory in 1985, running a 2:34:06 race. “It wasn't easy. A mile to go ... I remember it well. I was hurting bad, my arms were sunburned, my legs felt like rubber, and when I made the turn onto Boylston Street, I felt that I was running in slow motion,” she told Runner’s World of her win. Rainsberger is set to return this year, celebrating the 30th anniversary of her win by racing the marathon and the B.A.A. 5K.

Photo credit: Boston Globe / Getty

Erin Chatham and Heather Abbott

When the bombs went off near the marathon finish line in 2013, Chatham (left) and her husband (former Patriots player Matt Chatham) were inside a nearby bar. Abbott was watching the race, and the blast from the second bomb blew her into the bar. Chatham and her husband immediately rushed to Abbott’s aid. Sadly, Abbott later lost her leg due to the effects from the bomb. But last year, Chatham ran her first Boston Marathon—and Abbott joined her, on a prosthetic blade, crossing the finish line together. “Crossing the finish line with her means more, because I know what it means to her,” Chatham told the Boston Globe .

Juli Windsor

Windsor was less than a mile away from crossing the finish line at the Boston Marathon in 2013 when the bombs went off—she was on a mission to become the first person with dwarfism to complete the race. While the tragedy postponed her goal, the 3-foot-9 runner vowed to return in 2014—and she did. “This has been a life dream of mine, and I don’t want something so tragic to be overshadowing a story of people’s triumph and their effort. So, I want to come back strong and cross that finish line,” she says at the end of the documentary made about her by journalist David Abel.

Photo credit: Boston Globe / Getty

Sister Madonna Buder

“Get up. Get out. Move. Ideally every day.” Those are the words Buder lives by, and they must be working: The 85-year-old “Iron Nun” has become world famous for her impressive athletic prowess. Buder started running when she was 47 (a Catholic priest told her it helped harmonize mind, body and soul), and she went on to become an elite triathlete in her age group. Buder has completed hundreds of triathlons and marathons, including several Boston Marathons.

Photo credit: Lennart Preiss / Getty

Angela Coulombe

In 2007, Coulombe had just finished running the Beach to Beacon 10K road race when, about a week later, her right knee became swollen and she started experiencing mild joint aches. And within three months, she found herself mostly immobile from the undiagnosed pain. Coulombe was eventually diagnosed with and treated for Lyme Disease. Despite the massive setback, Coulombe was able to regain her strength and, three years after her diagnosis, she ran the New York City Marathon. Coulombe ran her first Boston Marathon last year (with an impressive 3:50 finish time), and re-qualified for this year’s race. Follow her story at lymerunner.com.

Photo credit: Via Vimeo, @angelacoulombe

Natalie Morales

The Today show anchor is a longtime athlete (and triathlete), and ran last year’s Boston Marathon in 3:34:45. Although she had run marathons previously, last year was Morales’s first 26.2-mile race in eight years, and she did it to raise money for The One Fund and the Challenged Athletes Foundation, as a tribute to the victims of the 2013 bombings. With a family and a pre-dawn call time for work, the busy (and super-fit) celeb says she carves time for running into her schedule whenever she can. “Running the Boston Marathon has been a long-time dream of mine,” she wrote on Today.com. But she continues, “I wanted to do something to honor them and to all the victims who still have a long road ahead.”

Photo credit: Instagram @nataliemorales

Summer Sanders

Though Sanders is best known for her prowess in the pool, she’s spent the last few years tackling road races. The Olympic gold medalist and mother of two ran the Boston Marathon in 2013 (3:33:13) and 2014 (3:25:35). Of her first marathon, she told ESPNW , “I had been digging as deep as I could, mentally and physically, to finish, so I had nothing left.”

Photo credit: Instagram @summersanders_

Lynn Crisci

In 2006, Crisci, an actress, fell during a stage accident. She was bedridden for three years with severe head, neck and spinal cord injuries. She relearned to walk just months before the 2013 Boston Marathon where she was spectating near the finish line, and the explosions left Crisci with a frontal lobe brain injury, hearing loss, a lower back injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. But after months of rehabilitation and with the help of the group 415 Strong—a group of 20 bombing survivors who ran together on Saturday mornings— Crisci completed the 2014 Boston Marathon.

Photo credit: Instagram @bostonactress

YOU!

This year’s Boston Marathon will boast about 30,000 participants. Cheers to you, runners—the ones who nabbed qualifying times to get into the race and the ones who worked tirelessly to raise money for important causes. On Monday, we salute you and your best, sweatiest efforts. (And if you’re an Orange is the New Black fan, be on the lookout for “Crazy Eyes” Uzo Aduba, who will be running on behalf of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.) Be your own badass and have the race of your dreams.